Note 6 at Acts 5:28: Without knowing it, these rulers were actually giving the apostles a tremendous complement. It was a great accomplishment to have filled Jerusalem with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, they were wrong in their statement that the apostles' motive was to make them guilty in the sight of the people for the blood of Jesus. They were simply telling the truth so the people could believe. They were not against the religious rulers.

The guilty party always thinks everyone is out to expose his sin and he becomes very defensive. If you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that barks the loudest is the one that got hit. Likewise, those who complain the loudest at the preaching of Jesus are the ones who were convicted by the message. Their violent opposition is really a sign that the message has hit its mark.